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Accessing Topaz in Affinity Photo

Overview

Serif's Affinity Photo editor is unique, in a few ways, when it comes to Plugin setup. For starters, if you already have Photoshop installed, you can simply tell Affinity to use that folder, and you'll have a 1:1 match between both applications. If you do not have Photoshop, you can still easily setup your Topaz Studio plugins for use in this editor. There are some important things to note about setup with Affinity Photo, so please do not skip the information pane below, and you'll be well on your way to editing with Topaz Studio in no time!

Important information about Affinity Photo setup:

Serif's Affinity Photo editor is ONLY supported in Topaz Studio & In Studio products (Clarity in Studio, Detail in Studio, Impression in Studio, etc.). Note: Classic products that have not been updated to In Studio versions are not supported (InFocus, Lens Effects, ReStyle, etc.)

On Mac, you MUST configure the Plugin Support Folders section to use the Authorize Global option. Failure to configure this item will result in an inability to access your plugins. This is not required for Windows users!

On both Mac and Windows, you MUST enable this option for your plugins to work in Affinity Photo: Allow "Unknown" plugins to be used

Compatibility

Supported

Serif Affinity Photo(tested on v1.6.1+)

Configuration Steps

Using the file locations we provide you in the steps below, you can add your Studio plugins to Affinity Photo, to be accessed from the Filters → Plugins menu option.

Click to Expand Panel

Open Preferences

Plugin Support Folders

Under the Plugin Search Folders section, enable the Authorize Global option. In the window that pops up, immediately click the Authorize button. This will add a slash ( / ) to the Plugin Search Folders section.

Add Topaz Studio

Select the Add button. This will open a File Selection window. From here, use this keyboard shortcut to open the Go To Folder... window: Command ⌘ + Shift + G. From here, you'll type the following:

/Applications/Topaz Studio/Topaz Studio.app/Contents/

Press Enter, then proceed to the next step.

Choose the Plugins folder

After pressing Enter, you'll see just the Contents folder. From here, navigate to this folder:

/Contents/Resources/PS_Plugins/

Once you select this folder, press the OK button.

Enable "Unknown" Plugins

From the Preferences window, make sure to enable the Allow "Unknown" plugins to be used option. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP, IT IS REQUIRED!

Confirm and Restart Affinity Photo

Now that everything looks like the example in this step, you can click OK to confirm the setup. You will be prompted to restart Affinity Photo, so confirm that, and you'll be ready to edit as soon as it launches again!

Open Preferences

Select Edit → Preferences, then choose the Photoshop Plugins option you see there.

Add Topaz Studio

Select the Add button. This will open a File Selection window. From here, navigate to this folder:

C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs\Topaz Studio\PS_Plugins_x64\

Note: You may have installed Topaz Studio to another location. If this is the case, you'll find it in a location like this:

D:\My Apps\Photo Apps\Topaz Studio\PS_Plugins_x64\

Once you select this folder, press the OK button.

Enable "Unknown" Plugins

From the Preferences window, make sure to enable the Allow "Unknown" plugins to be used option. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP, IT IS REQUIRED!

Confirm and Restart Affinity Photo

Now that everything looks like the example in this step, you can click OK to confirm the setup. You will be prompted to restart Affinity Photo, so confirm that, and you'll be ready to edit as soon as it launches again!